Uniform bounds for the number of rational points on hyperelliptic curves of small Mordell-Weil rank (Q1731786): Difference between revisions

Given a curve $C$ defined over a field $K$, let $\#C(K)$ denote the number of its $K$-rational points. By \textit{G. Faltings}' result [in: Barsotti symposium in algebraic geometry. Memorial meeting in honor of Iacopo Barsotti, in Abano Terme, Italy, June 24-27, 1991. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. 175--182 (1994; Zbl 0823.14009)], $\#C(K)$ is finite if its genus is $\ge 2$ and $K$ is a number field, and given a number field $K$ and an integer $g\ge 2$, the set of $\#C(K)$ where $C$ varies over the curves of genus $g$ defined over $K$ is of great interest in number theory. The paper under review introduces a nice survey on finiteness conjectures on the sets that are similar to the aforementioned one, and particularly focuses on the following version of Mazur: Given integers $d\ge1$, $g\ge 2$, and $r\ge0$, consider the set of $\#C(K)$ where $K$ varies over the number fields of degree $ d$, and $C$ varies over the curves of genus $g$ defined over $K$ such that the Mordell-Weil rank of its Jacobian is $r$. Then, the aforementioned set is finite. The author of the paper under review proves this conjecture of Mazur for integers $g\ge 3$, $d\ge 1$, $r\ge 0$ such that $r\le g-3$, and hyperelliptic curves $C/K$. The author's proof is based on the upper bound available from Chabauty's method, and the difficulty is that the size of the special fiber which is a term in Chabauty's upper bound is unbounded as $C$ varies. The author overcomes this difficulty by imposing additional linear conditions on the differential entry of the Chabauty-Coleman pairing, and this results in the cost of requiring $r\le g-3$. The author's idea does in fact generalize to arbitrary curves, and it is demonstrated in [\textit{E. Katz} et al., Duke Math. J. 165, No. 16, 3189--3240 (2016; Zbl 1428.11121)].